4 and 20 Fit Girls(1940)

Trained to See – Three Women and the War(en)

During the Second World War, women were for the first time allowed to work as war correspondents. Based on reports, letters and diary excerpts, filmmaker Luzia Schmid sketches a personal portrait of three fearless women and their unique attempts to report on the war.

Monte Cassino: The Soldiers' Story(en)

The months-long battle of Monte Cassino, one of the bloodiest of the second World War, is related by the Germans and Allied troops who fought it. Men of the 1st/4th Essex Battalion and the German paratroop regiment are to the fore here, as they were 60 years ago.

W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult(en)

The war in the South Pacific, a country doctor in Colorado, victims of industrial pollution in a Japanese village — all were captured in unforgettable photographs by the legendary W. Eugene Smith. This program showcases over 600 of Smith’s stunning photographs and includes a dramatic recreation in which actor Peter Riegert (Crossing Delancey, Local Hero) portrays the artist using dialogue take from Smith’s diaries and letters. Interwoven through the program are archival footage and interviews with family and friends of this brilliant, complicated man, whose work developed from twin themes of common humanity and social responsibility.

All This and World War II(en)

Peter Gabriel is among the rockstars performing the music of Lennon and McCartney against a montage of World War II newsreel footage.

Ghetto Theresienstadt: Deception and Reality(en)

A look at the Nazi "show camp" used to fool the world while they carried out their "Final Solution".

The Camps of Death(en)

Human torture. Factories of death. War atrocities. The crimes that haunt the pagse of history are chronicled in the piercing documentary Camps of Death. Following Hitler's murderous career, the film traces his rise to power, his ultimate demise, and the subsequent nuremberg trials that publicized the horrors of Hitler's regime. Concentration camp footage combines with chilling POW interviews to graphically create the nazi nightmare that few could hope to survive. A powerful look at the third reich adn the horrifying fate of its enemies.

My House Without Me(pl)

Two women, one house. An intimate story about a Pole and a German placed by war on enemy sides and their parallel lives accidentally brought together. The film reflects on the concepts of invaders, victim, guilt and forgiveness. It confronts different experiences and their paradoxical similarities. It deals with the controversial subject of the post-war accountings. The visual narration is flowing, guided by memories and archives. Traditional documentation confronts experimental use of archival footage in the cinematic impression about displacement.

An Intimate History of Occupation(fr)

June 14, 1940. The German Army marches into Paris. France is an occupied country. Through exclusive amateur footage, personal stories, and popular songs from the time, this fi lm recounts life with the enemy during the occupation, as seen by the French... and the Germans! Despite the Nazis and the troubled war times, day-to-day life in occupied France went on. People learnt to live with the rationing, the cues, the curfew... Many try to forget the hard times, mainly thanks to the movies in which big stars provide a little dream and lead a privileged life. These stars don't actually collaborate, butadapt and give the impression of normal life during the war. After all, is it necessarily shameful to shake the hand of an enemy?

De opkomst van Adolf Hitler(nl)

Stolen Children(de)

June 1941, during World War II. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler orders the mass abduction of particularly well-bred young children from Poland and the occupied territories of the Soviet Union in order to be educated in German culture, by both state schools and German families…

Lee Miller: A Life on the Frontline(en)

A documentary celebrating Lee Miller, a model-turned-photographer-turned-war reporter who defied anyone who tried to pin her down, put her on a pedestal, or pigeonhole her in any way.

Battle of the Bulge: Kampfgruppe Peiper(en)

This film tells the story of one of the most contentious combats of WW2, the actions of Kamfgruppe Peiper during the Battle of the Bulge.From the outset the King Tigers of December 1944, in poor winter weather, could not cut through the forest roads as the smaller Panzers had done in 1940 but were slowed down by determined resistance by small groups of American GIs, Obersturmbannfuhrer Jochan Peiper, commander of the elite spearhead, the Leibstandarte's 1st Panzer Regiment advancing west on one of the Division's three rolbhans became increasingly frustrated by enemy resistance and poor roads. Eventually anger boiled over into atrocity and the murder of US soldiers and Belgian civilians at Malmendy and elsewhere along the route. Experienced soldiers, historians and film makers analyse events on the very ground where they happened, stripping away legend and obfuscation of all kinds to present the facts for the viewer to make their own decision..

Battle of the Bulge: Saint Vith(en)

The Northern most thrust into the wintery Ardennes of General Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army fell on the inexperienced 106th US Infantry Division, who had not only just arrived in the Europe but had only been in the line for five days, in what was supposed to be a 'ghost front'. One of the best German infantry divisions, the 18th VG fell on the over extended 106th dug in on the Schnee Eifel, where two US regiments were surrounded and forced to surrender.Major General Jones was unable to stem what became a general retreat but, as in all retreats, both the best and the worst of human nature was on display. Small groups of officers and men fought on repeatedly, delaying the German spearheads on the road to St Vith and buying time for elements of 7th US Armd Div to arrive. After a desperate fight, Field Marshal Montgomery controversially took over the Northern shoulder of the Bulge and ordered 7th Armd Div and the remnants of the 106th to abandon St Vith.

Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Last Gamble(en)

In 1944 Adolf Hitler decided that his only military option " as Defeat was staring Germany in the Eyes" was to carry out a major offensive in the west to split the Allies Western Front by capturing Antwerp. This would he hoped buy time to halt the Russians in the East. this film examines his dilemma and the plan that was produced.

Battle of the Bulge: An Intelligence Failure?(en)

On the 16th December 1944 Hitler launched Operation Wacht am Rhein against the largely unsuspecting American component of the Allied Army. Twenty Divisions consisting of 410000 men, 2600 artillery pieces nad 1400 tanks and assault guns attacked the American 1st Army on a 110 kilometre front. How had this happened ? This film examines why the Allies were not prepared.

Battle of the Bulge: German Field Artillery(en)

in 1944 when the Germans launched their last major offensive of the war they had to compensate for their lack of aircraft, manpower and armour. They did this in the main by the use of surprise and artillery. This film examines the German Field Artillery and how it was used in the The Battle of the Bulge.

Capitulation, the Final Hours that Ended World War II(fr)

A film made of archives mostly unknown, on the last day of the Second World War in Europe and on the events which preceded it. This film also shows the growing tension between the Allies and the Soviets at the time: May 8, 1945 is also the first day of the Cold War.

Date With History: Hiroshima(en)

A reconstruction using archive film of the bombing of Hiroshima, followed by a discussion of the main issues by Ludovic Kennedy and Group-Captain Cheshire.

Le Trésor sacré d'Hitler(fr)

Hitler's Teen Killers(fr)

They grew up under the Nazi regime. They pledged to give their lives for Hitler. They were fanatics who would not be stopped. They were the 20,000 teenagers who made up the 12th SS Panzer Division. Unleashed in France to halt the Allied invasion, they would sow terror and destruction in their wake. Historical colorized archives and a handful of survivors tell us this story.